With plug-and-play integration on all models of Universal Robots, the Robotiq FT 300 performs highly repeatable, precision force control tasks such as finishing, product testing, assembly and precise part insertion. It has a measuring range of ±300N.

The long-standing industrial practice of outsourcing manufacturing operations to low-cost parts of the world to keep manufacturing costs down has recently taken a turn.

A report from Boston Consulting Group has shown that ‘the share of executives saying that their companies are actively reshoring production increased by 9% since 2014 and by about 250% since 2012. This suggests that companies that were considering reshoring in the past three years are now taking action.’

With rapidly rising labour costs in traditional low-cost countries such as China, manufacturers are now experiencing that the financial advantages of manufacturing overseas are being seriously eroded.

Cimtec Automation LLC is now an official Epson Robots certified repair center. The partnership will extend beyond the current scope of selling new Epson Robots and automation products to include maintenance and repair of the broad installed base of legacy systems throughout the Southeastern US.

The original agreement, in 2015, included distribution of all of Epson Robots’ automation products, including the large lineup of SCARA, 6-Axis and Linear Module robots as well as Vision Guidance, Force Guidance and many other industrial automation products.

Cimtec has helped Epson Robots grow new robot-based automation solutions throughout North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.

Rethink Robotics has launched the Sawyer Software Development Kit, a software upgrade designed for researchers and students to build and test programs on the Sawyer robot.

With a wide range of uses for university research teams and corporate research and development laboratories around the world, Sawyer SDK offers further compatibility with ROS and Open Source robotics tools, as well as an affordable solution to increase access to advanced robotics in the classroom.

ABI Research, a market-foresight advisory firm providing guidance on the most transformative technologies, has identified collaborative robotics as one of the fastest growing segments of robotic systems.

Small-to-medium sized businesses are driving the increased demand for collaborative robots, as cobots provide solutions that allow for a more flexible kind of manufacturing that makes no assumptions as to volume levels or types of products being manufactured.

From 2016 to 2025, the global revenue of collaborative robotics shipments is set to enjoy a compound average growth rate of 49.8 per cent, compared to 12.1 per cent for Industrial robots and 23.2 per cent for commercial robotics.

As the recently appointed sole UK distributor of TM Robotics’ SCARA and Cartesian robots, Raruk Automation is now able to provide solutions using these caged systems as well as its 6-axis, collaborative Universal Robots (UR). This scope allows the optimum solution to be developed for any application.

The company has substantially increased its product programme during the last year and will be also introducing several new additions at the show.